Joplin, Missouri Torn to Bits by Twister – Many Dead

Rescue workers are digging through piles of shattered homes and crushed vehicles in a search for survivors of a 1/2 mile wide tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri Sunday evening. The twister slammed into one of the city’s two hospitals, wreaking havoc where it destroyed a Life Flight helicopter and ripped parts of the building off. All of the windows were blown out and two people lost their lives in the facility.

Missouri governor Jay Nixon said that he did not want to estimate how high the number of dead will climb to but he acknowledged that the death toll is “on its way up”. There is some good news however following Sunday’s devastation: 17 people have been found alive in the rubble. It is not yet known exactly how many residents have been injured but the number is expected to be high.

Home after home in Joplin is totally destroyed. The destruction looks as though a giant vacuum cleaner dropped down to earth and sucked away houses and trees. Vehicles are strewn about, crushed like aluminum cans and shaken residents are roaming the streets, dazed by the total destruction as they search for loved ones and personal belongings. Officials are warning residents to return to their homes with extreme caution as fires from gas leaks burned around the city and more bad weather loomed overhead.

The tornado that struck Joplin was so strong that it peeled the bark off trees as wind speeds were between 166 and 200 mph, which classifies the tornado as an F4 – the second largest classification with F5 twisters being the most powerful. The very large and powerful tornado cut a path six miles long and over a half mile wide right through the city’s center. A great portion of the south end of the city was flattened with houses, schools and churches reduced to ruins.

Residents of Joplin had only a five minute warning telling them that the twister was about to hit their city Sunday evening after 5pm, leaving them totally unprepared and/or unable to take cover. There were a total of 70 twisters produced from the storm system that hit the area since Friday, including at least 45 tornadoes on Sunday alone. Twisters were reported in seven states, reaching from the Canadian border down to Oklahoma.